Smooth collaboration and fast access to the right data at the right time are crucial for businesses with small teams to seamlessly close deals, and survive and grow in a competitive environment. With fewer hands on deck, staying organized, avoiding mistakes, and aligning everyone is crucial to perform optimally.

 

For this reason, choosing the right CRM is essential for small teams to effectively perform and improve sales.

 

In this article, we will help you find the best sales CRM tools that are tailored well to enable smaller teams to sell smarter.

What small teams should look for in a CRM?

To ensure the CRM delivers on your specific needs, here are a few things you should be looking for to better equip a small and growing sales team:

Simplicity and ease of onboarding

Small teams require a CRM that is easy to adopt and use. Options like Interakt come with a user-friendly interface, which can help your team get started without going through a lengthy setup or training.

Affordable pricing and free plans

Look for CRM tools that offer strong free plans with all the basic features or affordable entry-level tiers that can arm you to scale without a heavy upfront investment.

Task and pipeline management features

A small team needs a CRM that can make managing leads, tasks, and deal stages smooth and intuitive, thus helping the team stay organized and focused on deal closures and boosting sales.

Mobile accessibility

Sales teams often work on the go, so having a mobile-friendly CRM is a must to ensure that they can update records and keep track of conversations, anywhere and anytime.

Integration with email, WhatsApp, and other tools

You should also be looking for a CRM that can seamlessly connect with your existing communication stack. Interakt, for example, focuses on seamless integration with WhatsApp, Shopify, RazorPay, and more to enable businesses to get the maximum out of the tool.

Shared visibility and collaboration features

For a team to work in sync without skipping a beat, they require visibility into deals, conversations, and follow-ups. An ideal CRM should support such collaboration across the team with ease.

Top 5 CRM tools for small sales teams

These are five of the best CRM tools that offer all the key functions and features required by small sales teams:

Interakt

Interakt is a scalable, sales-success-focused CRM that is perfect for both larger and medium-sized businesses as well as small, fast-moving teams that rely on WhatsApp for customer communication. With a clean interface and tools that combine CRM, sales automation, and messaging into one, Interakt can help teams manage leads, automate follow-ups, and close deals all through WhatsApp.

 

Key features:

-WhatsApp CRM and automation tools

–Shared team inbox and sales pipeline

-Integration capabilities to connect with WooCommerce, Shopify, Razorpay, etc.

Pros:

-Seamless WhatsApp integration

-Easy onboarding and intuitive, smart UI

-Plans that support scalability as the business grows.

Cons:

-Focuses mostly on platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.

-More effective when combined with supported platforms like Shopify

Pricing for Interakt starts at $29 per month. Interakt also offers a free plan as well as a free trial to let businesses try out their features before committing to a paid plan.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM offers robust features and the flexibility and customizability that small teams require. You can also connect with the rich ecosystem of Zoho apps, making this a great choice for sales teams with diverse needs.

 

Key features:

-Lead and pipeline management

-Workflow automation

-Real-time analytics dashboard

Pros:

-Deep customization

-Competitive pricing and a free plan

-Easy integration with Zoho apps

Cons:

-Slight learning curve

-The free plan has limited support

-UI can feel a bit dated

Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users, and has paid plans starting at $29 per month.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is another popular choice for small teams looking for a user-friendly, all-in-one platform for marketing and sales.

 

Key features:

-Marketing and sales automation

-Live chat and landing page builder

-Email templates and scheduling

Pros:

-Rich set of features

-Strong marketing capabilities

-Modern and intuitive interface

Cons:

-A few key tools are locked behind paid tiers

-It can get expensive as you scale

-Limited WhatsApp integrations natively

HubSpot has a free forever CRM and paid plans starting at $18 per month.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a CRM focused on enabling sales teams to stay organized and function effectively, with simple, deal-centric, and custom pipelines.

 

Key features:

-Visual sales pipeline

-Email and activity tracking

-Custom dashboards and fields.

Pros:

-Seamless setup

-Highly visual and intuitive

-Strong deal and pipeline focus

Cons:

-Offers a free trial but not a free version

-Limited marketing tools

–Full functionality might require extra add-ons

Pipedrive offers a 14-day free trial and has plans starting from $19 per month.

Freshsales

Freshsales from Freshworks is another CRM well-suited for small-to-medium sales teams that are looking for all the basic functions at an affordable price.

 

Key features:

-AI-based lead scoring

-Built-in task and appointment scheduler

-Mobile CRM app

Pros:

-Great mobile experience

-AI features even in lower tiers

-Integrates well with the Freshworks ecosystem

Cons:

-Occasional sluggishness of UI

-Not ideal if not leveraging other Freshworks products

–A few good features are locked behind paid plans

Freshsales has a free plan as well as paid plans from $9 per month.

How to choose the right CRM for your small team

Follow these crucial steps to ensure that you are choosing the best-suited CRM tool to empower your small sales team:

Assessing team needs

Figure out what your team truly needs with the CRM. This can be better lead tracking, smart automation, or better collaboration. With a clearer understanding of your team’s needs, you can pick a tool that effectively solves your sales challenges.

Trying free plans or demos

Go for a free plan or a free trial of the CRM first to get a feel for its features, test its usability, and see how well it can fit your workflows, to avoid investing in something that does not necessarily fit your business/team.

Evaluating customer support

Make sure that the CRM has helpful, effective, and quick support in the form of chat, email, documents, or tutorials. With a small team, you will need reliable support for smooth adoption and usage.

Checking integration with your existing sales stack

You need to choose a CRM that works well with your current tools, like email, WhatsApp, calendars, etc. With this seamless integration, you can keep your sales process efficient and well-organized.

Conclusion

The perfect CRM can be the game changer, especially when your business is aiming to scale with a small team. So, look for a CRM that not only fits your current needs and goals but has a proven track record of helping businesses grow.

 

Looking for a reliable, WhatsApp-ready CRM built for sales success?

 

Get started with the Interakt Sales CRM!